{"id":4180,"date":"2020-11-02T17:41:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T09:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/?p=4180"},"modified":"2021-03-10T18:52:33","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T10:52:33","slug":"how-to-usb-boot-in-raspberry-pi4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/how-to-usb-boot-in-raspberry-pi4.html","title":{"rendered":"How to USB Boot in Raspberry Pi4"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the features of Raspberry Pi4 is the ability to have USB boot. One of the good reasons why you might want to boot up via USB is the faster read writes by using SSD external drives and alternate options to boot up your OS. This option was not available until the recent firmware update in June 2020. So I\u2019ve decided to give this method a spin and found out there were some caveats using this method.<\/p>\n

\"Raspberry
Raspberry Pi 4 bootloader splash screen message<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

I researched some of the blogs how one could boot from USB and found their method not workable. I wonder how they managed it. I spent hours trying their method, which led to boot failure. What was correct was the requirement to update the Raspberry Pi4 firmware from June 2020 version onwards to enable USB booting.<\/p>\n

After updating the firmware, the blogs mentioned copying the microSD content onto your USB stick, which took me hours to copy 16GB worth of data, which finally failed to boot up when the process was completed. After wasting several more hours and days making different version of copies using different USB flash drives before I finally found the way to make it work!<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s how you could get USB boot working with your Raspberry Pi4.<\/p>\n

Firstly, you will need your firmware to be from June 2020 version onwards. To check your firmware version type this in the terminal box:<\/p>\n

sudo rpi-eeprom-update<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

or,<\/p>\n

vcgencmd bootloader_version<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This would show your current version. If the version was from June 2020 onwards, your bootloader would be capable of USB booting. If not, you would need to update it.<\/p>\n

As for me, my firmware was automatically updated while I was testing out PINN installer, which is an alternate version of NOOBS. Checking through the Raspberry Pi website, whenever you update or install Raspbian, your firmware would be checked and updated to the latest bootloader version. So by just installing with NOOBS or with PINN, your firmware would also be updated.<\/p>\n

In case you want to update the firmware without making a fresh install, you may manually update the firmware by typing this in the terminal:<\/p>\n

sudo apt update
\nsudo apt full-upgrade
\nsudo reboot<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And after that update the firmware in terminal:<\/p>\n

sudo rpi-eeprom-update -a
\nsudo reboot<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next, download the latest NOOBS from Raspberry Pi website and unzip the content onto a USB flash drive. Plug it in, and boot up your Raspberry Pi 4. It might take awhile before you are greeted with the installation selection screen. After making your choice, let the installer do its thing.<\/p>\n

Reboot.<\/p>\n

And let the Raspberry Pi digest its information for a while. The first boot would take a bit longer as the OS configures itself to be ready for booting. If successful, you would be greeted by the Raspbian desktop. If the waiting time was way too long, you could shut down, and turn back on. If it is still hung, turn it off. And plug the USB flash drive to another USB slot. I don\u2019t know the reason why doing this would make the USB booting successful, but hey, as long as it worked!<\/p>\n

\"Raspberry
Raspberry Pi 4 USB flash drive booting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then I got curious and tried out the various ways of installing Raspberry Pi OS. Basically, there are four ways you could install and run your OS in your Raspberry Pi.<\/p>\n

1. NOOBS
\n2. PINN
\n3. Berryboot
\n4. Image installs<\/p>\n

Using NOOBS was the most successful. I could boot up Raspbian, LibreELEC and Lakka.<\/p>\n

Using PINN, Raspbian failed to boot, but the Raspbian 64bit Beta was working! I could also get LibreELEC to boot, but failed for Lakka & Retropie. I didn\u2019t try out all the other installations, so you just have to experiment for yourselves.<\/p>\n

Berryboot was a total failure.<\/p>\n

Direct image write into USB flash drive using Ubuntu MATE didn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

However I could get Raspup (Puppy Linux) to work from USB boot. Raspup was really handy. Perhaps it’s simple setup made it my Linux version of choice when I needed to edit files, copy files and make modifications with any Linux distro including Raspberry Pi OS! Just download Raspup, unzip the files and copy it over to a USB flash drive or microSD card and you have yourself a nice hacking and fixing tool!<\/p>\n

2-Nov-2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the features of Raspberry Pi4 is the ability to have USB boot. One of the good reasons why you might want to boot up via USB is the faster read writes by using SSD external drives and alternate options to boot up your OS. This option was not available until the recent firmware …<\/p>\n

How to USB Boot in Raspberry Pi4<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6,197],"tags":[46,115,116,198,199,149,150],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bS5F-15q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4191,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/ssh-from-pc-to-raspberry-pi0-project.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":0},"title":"SSH from PC to Raspberry Pi0 Project","author":"Jan","date":"30 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this project to SSH from the computer to the Raspberry Pi Zero using the USB RNDIS ethernet gadget with a self made USB addon board. From the various videos, it looked easy and I decided to give it a go. However I\u2019m still not able to do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-29_rpi0_addon_board.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-29_rpi0_addon_board.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-29_rpi0_addon_board.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-29_rpi0_addon_board.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4255,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/argon-one-m-2-for-raspberry-pi-4.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":1},"title":"Argon One M.2 for Raspberry Pi 4","author":"Jan","date":"10 August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally, I have decided to get my hands on one of the most popular cases, the Argon One for Raspberry Pi 4; it also has one of the highest price tags in comparison with other casing in the market. What tipped me over to get it was the new base\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4187,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/my-raspberry-pi-400-keyboard-computer.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":2},"title":"My Raspberry Pi 400 Overview","author":"Jan","date":"6 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Raspberry Pi 400 was recently launched and I couldn\u2019t overcome my enthusiasm and decided to jump right in and got myself one! It has a more powerful processor (BCM2711CO) clocking in at 1.8GHz and purpose built keyboard enclosing the Raspberry Pi board and some nifty built-in heatsink. So after getting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"Raspberry Pi 400 computer keyboard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-06_raspberry_pi_400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-06_raspberry_pi_400.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-06_raspberry_pi_400.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2020-11-06_raspberry_pi_400.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4174,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/raspberry-pi-getting-started.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":3},"title":"Raspberry Pi Getting Started","author":"Jan","date":"1 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Raspberry Pi is a nifty little single board computer (SBC) introduced many years back. I started to have an interest in this palm sized computer last year while looking for some PC tinkering projects. It was the time when Raspberry Pi4 model B was launched with much advancement over its\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"Raspberry Pi 4 model B","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2019-08-17_rpi_JL1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2019-08-17_rpi_JL1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2019-08-17_rpi_JL1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2019-08-17_rpi_JL1.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4205,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/how-to-install-linux-for-acer-aspire-switch-10-with-efi32bit-boot.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":4},"title":"How to Install Linux for Acer Aspire Switch 10 with EFI32bit boot","author":"Jan","date":"10 February 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My old Acer Aspire Switch 10 had been running slow for many years ever since my bad attempt at upgrading it to Windows 10 and reverting it back to Windows 8.1. The lag was rather trying and I had to be rather patient whenever I used it. I failed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"Acer Aspire Switch 10 running MX Linux","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2021-02-10_acer-aspire-switch-mxlinux.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2021-02-10_acer-aspire-switch-mxlinux.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2021-02-10_acer-aspire-switch-mxlinux.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2021-02-10_acer-aspire-switch-mxlinux.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.janleow.com\/imgs\/wp\/2021-02-10_acer-aspire-switch-mxlinux.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4251,"url":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/installing-chrome-os-flex-into-acer-switch-10.html","url_meta":{"origin":4180,"position":5},"title":"Installing Chrome OS Flex into Acer Switch 10","author":"Jan","date":"10 August 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"My old Acer Aspire Switch 10 from circa year 2014 has become running like a bullock cart. It took ages to boot or shutdown Windows 8. And running any app was a total waste of time. However I do have a MX Linux as my second dual boot OS and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Computer Devices"","block_context":{"text":"Computer Devices","link":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/category\/computer-devices"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4180"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4220,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4180\/revisions\/4220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janleow.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}